Ex-wife awarded MORE of my earnings after divorce

I live in Washington state.
My ex has been a pill ever since our separation. Our divorce was finalized over a year and a half ago, in early 2007. She recently took me back to court because she felt that she was entitled to 50% of our income tax rebate check from 2007 (for tax year 2006). We had been separated for all of 2006, during our divorce proceedings. I worked, she did not. When I filed, I filed as married filing jointly and offered her a couple hundred dollars. She agreed to file jointly, but refused to accept less than 50%. She'd already received a proportionally higher amount of our assets in the divorce!
So, a full 18 months after our decree, we were back in court, with her asking to vacate/amend our decree granting her 50% of that tax check. Our hearing was in early August. The commissioner stated that he would need to take the matter into consideration, and that we'd receive a letter with his decision. In Late October, nearly three months later, I received a letter from the commissioner stating that I would have to pay my ex 50% of the 2007 tax check; a judgement with an added 12% annum. I have been making payments of $30-$50/month since then.
I have a few questions on this; Is there a time limit on vacating and amending a decree when it comes to assets? Are there time constraints on decisions by family law commissioners? It seems to me that dealing with this, now, two years down the road is unfair, especially since the money was received after the divorce was finalized. Also, having to wait for three months on pins and needles for a decision from the commissioner seemed a bit wrong, too.
As long as I make a payment to my ex each month, is there any reason to worry about her attempting to garnish my wages? My last questions is; With a huge amount of debt allocated to me from my divorce, I was considering filing a chapter 7 bankruptcy in order to get a fresh start away from the financial hell that my unemployed ex drug me through. Can this judgement be included in my bankruptcy, or is it exempt?
Thanks for your time.

I live in Washington state.
My ex has been a pill ever since our separation. Our divorce was finalized over a year and a half ago, in early 2007. She recently took me back to court because she felt that she was entitled to 50% of our income tax rebate check from 2007 (for tax year 2006). We had been separated for all of 2006, during our divorce proceedings. I worked, she did not. When I filed, I filed as married filing jointly and offered her a couple hundred dollars. She agreed to file jointly, but refused to accept less than 50%. She'd already received a proportionally higher amount of our assets in the divorce!
So, a full 18 months after our decree, we were back in court, with her asking to vacate/amend our decree granting her 50% of that tax check. Our hearing was in early August. The commissioner stated that he would need to take the matter into consideration, and that we'd receive a letter with his decision. In Late October, nearly three months later, I received a letter from the commissioner stating that I would have to pay my ex 50% of the 2007 tax check; a judgement with an added 12% annum. I have been making payments of $30-$50/month since then.
I have a few questions on this; Is there a time limit on vacating and amending a decree when it comes to assets? Are there time constraints on decisions by family law commissioners? It seems to me that dealing with this, now, two years down the road is unfair, especially since the money was received after the divorce was finalized. Also, having to wait for three months on pins and needles for a decision from the commissioner seemed a bit wrong, too.
My last questions is; As long as I pay my ex each month, is there any reason to worry about her attempting to garnish my wages?
Thanks for your time.

You were the one who chose to file a joint return with her. You could have elected not to do so and this would not have been an issue at all. In fact, you knew from the get go that she refused to accept less than 50%, therefore this is not something that just came up two years down the road. In fact, if her agreement to file jointly was contingent upon getting 50% you violated the federal tax code by filing a joint return at all.

If there were any time limits or constraints for amending or vacating its too late for you to do anything about it now. You are long past any deadline to appeal the ruling.

If you keep paying just 30-50 dollars a month its possible that she could get your wages garnished. It all depends on your overall financial situation and the total you actually owe her. If you have the money to pay it off, or to pay it off much faster, you could end up with problems if you insist on paying 30-50 a month, let alone the fact that you are racking up interest at 12% per annum.

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